... my amps kept chipping in and out and i thought to myself.. let me check the connections in the trunk.. everything was fine.. so i decided to look at the battery connections.. my oh my.. they were corroded with white and blue powder

got home.. popped out the dremmel and put on the sandpaper wheel and went to town.. shined them up nice and purdy not only are my amps louder now.. for some strange reason the car is pulling harder i even had a slight hesitation before.. and thats gone.. ow well.. every thing is shiny and purdy now

 

I should go do this. My lights dim for a second when I turn on the heat/AC. I think it's a ground problem, but hope it isn't the alternator.

 

Another user that has felt gains from grounding maintenance...

 

cookie?

 

many people seem to ignore this problem. at work I see this all the time but people think its all bs so they just leave it like that. A bad batter will change how your car runs. You should always keep the battery clean, the terminals clean and make sure the thing is secure and not flying all around the engine bay You can always test your bettery with a simple multi metter, just to make sure it wont die on you in the middle of winter

 

My auto teacher told me that you can get rid of the corrosion on the battery by pouring Coke on it. Seemed a little odd to me, but he claimed it works. Anybody try this before?

-Payne-

 

thats why i went with PG chromed battery terminals, one to avoid corrosion and two to add BLING BLING under my hood

Ant

 

Where did you get them? Can you get electricuted from cleaning a positive terminal? Cant you pour coke on them to get rid of corrosion or will that hurt them?

 

chrome battery terminals, are they silver already?

 

Can someone do a write up of where all the grounds are and how to properly clean them?

 

its only a temporary fix.. i poured coke on it this morning and then came home and cleaned the terminals

 

will that destroy the connecting ends themselves? or did you just poor onto the terminals..

 

I dunno

 

Use baking soda. It will neutralize the acid. Make a paste using baking soda and water. You'd be surprised how much it fizzes. I bet the tool you used to clean the terminal probably shows acid damage now. You should really use baking soda so your battery tray and anything else in the area wont get eaten through.

 

its a sanding wheel.. just throw it off and use another one

 

I guess I'll try this, my moms van is getting the foammy acid on it..

 

I wouldnt use baking soda to clean a battery. Yes it does neutralize the acid but it can also neutralize the whole battery if you clean it and have the solution get in to the vent caps. You should use mild soap and water to clean your bettery. Just like most stuf on the car.
As for cleaning the terminals you can touch the positive end and not get killed. Just dont short out the battery by touching the + and - together. As for grounds? THe alternator has a ground. Most cases they just use the engine block as a ground. Trance the negetive cable to the frame and see if there is rust or anything else to screw up a good connection. All in all the whole car is a ground and everything that has current has a ground somewhere. If you like to find these, I suggest looking in a car manual for scamatic diagrams of the cars electrical systmes

 

The tiny bit of baking soda is not gonna neutralize the entire battery. Ever see how much acid is in one of those things?

 

yup

 

Get an optima battery. They never produce that corrosion stuff.

 

My father us to put petroleum jelly (aka Vaseline) on the battery terminals and connectors after cleaning them. It did an excellent job at preventing any kind of future corrision.

 

i am getting there..

 

Ethan's advice is the best.....I haven't looked at my Red Top since installing it a couple of years ago.....



Meanwhile the stock Nissan batter on the 99 gets frequent attention.

 

Red one.

 

Yes, it is safe to clean the battery terminals with a solution of baking soda AND water to rid of the corrosion. Just make sure after the solution neutralizes it, scrape the metal until it shines to the bare metal. Otherwise, the corrosion will reappear again in a short time. Also, it is also a good idea to invest in those "felt" washers to place on the positive and negative terminals on the battery. These help minimize corrosion. They are only $1.00/pair at your local auto parts store. Also, it might help to check your terminals going to the starter and alternator. I know when I replaced my starter last week, the terminal ring on the starter wire was quite dirty. I cleaned it to the bare metal, and it seems, now, my startups are much more better. I'm going to tackle the alternator connections this weekend.

 

I don't have stock sound system Yellow it is

 

But that's not going to match...

 

There is a write up on this on the .org. Now if only I could find it...

 

its in the trunk in a concealed black box who cares if its yellow

 

But how well does petroleum jelly conduct electricity? Clearly it's oil-based but I stank in chemistry so know little about it's condustivity. Generally, I would think you'd want nothing between your battery posts and the terminal on the wire that clamps down on the post.

Does anyone top up their oem battery with distilled water?

 

ALWAYS use distilled water. Tap water can cut the life of your battery in half.

 

duh

 

I can't seem to any info on the conductivity of petroleum jelly. I've found hundreds of references to applying it between electrical contacts (partictularly if copper) but nothing on it's electrical properties.

That said, I don't think it would be a very good conductor but I could be wrong. It's main advantage is its ability to seal the connector from the air, water, and acid and thus prevent corrision. The application to the terminals is very small. Tightening the connector should squeeze it out and the connector should have direct contact with the terminal. You then liberally apply the stuff to outside of the connector to seal the whole thing off.

 

Really, any kind of grease will do and it doesn't have to be conductive. Get the posts and terminals shiny clean, assemble and tighten them down, and THEN put the grease on the outside to seal and protect the connection.

 

Bingo

 

and bingo was his name

 

Most of the ground points are covered in these two threads (with pics) -
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hreadid=143059
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hreadid=153060

I think as long as you get down to clean bare metal it dosn't matter how you clean them. A wire brush or sandpaper is probably as good as anything else.